Frankie Archer – Pressure and Persuasion (2024)
Northumbrian electro-folk artist Frankie Archer has unveiled her enthralling new EP, Pressure and Persuasion, which explores the experiences of four women from different historical periods facing societal pressures that resonate today. The release coincides with Archer’s autumn tour, supporting The Last Dinner Party, and her own headline tour across the UK in October and November.
The EP expertly mixes modern electronic production with traditional folk influences, employing techniques like chopped fiddle, spellbinding whispers, pitch-shifted and looped vocals, overdubbed harmonies, emotive fiddle, and layered synths.
The tracks address themes of joy, defiance, and helplessness, while challenging the portrayal of women’s stories. Archer’s unique sound draws inspiration from electronic artists such as Little Dragon and Björk, as well as folk traditions like the Bulgarian Ensemble Trakia and Northumbrian musician Kathryn Tickell.
Speaking on the release of new EP ‘Pressure and Persuasion’, Frankie shared: “These stories tell of girlhood and womanhood. Pressures to behave, to speak, to look a certain way. To be attractive but not try too hard. To be chatty but not too opinionated. To be sexy but not a slut. To say ‘thank you’ to a creepy advance because it’s just a compliment. To smile when a man tells her to – because women shouldn’t look miserable, god forbid angry. To marry the right person. To support a man. To be a mother. To give their body in exchange for flattery and gifts. To be persuaded after saying ‘no’ because women should be nice and agreeable. Listen to the parallels between these stories from hundreds of years ago and womens’ experiences right now and think – what’s going on here and why can’t we move on?”
“Sonically, Pressure and Persuasion is really broad, ranging from feminist trad-pop to doom-folk to treacle-bop. Each song is built around the bare bones of the traditional words and/or melody, with the core of each story influencing how the track ended up sounding. I worked on my sampler-sequencer and digital audio workstation to arrange and produce each song, and while each one is totally different the common strand is the vocals and the story. Around that I chose various synths, drum tracks built from a mix of drum machine samples, and as always, a lot of heavily chopped and glitched vocal and fiddle snips. Manipulating sound using LFOs, manual editing, pitch-shifting, distortion, granulation, and delay is something I get really into when I’m producing and there’s a lot of it on Pressure and Persuasion. I worked with Jim Moray as co-producer, and his wisdom and skills as a producer and mixer brought the whole thing together and brought the tracks to life. The EP was mastered by the excellent Piper Payne assisted by Colby Gustafson at Neato Mastering and voila, it lives.”
The EP concludes with the haunting single, “Fair Mabel of Wallington Hall.” The song retells a Northumbrian folk tale about a woman coerced into marriage and tragic motherhood, highlighting the damaging effects of patriarchal expectations. The poignant lyrics, “My duty’s done and as you wished, here’s Wallington’s new heir / but though the cradle is full up, the bridebed is left bare,” encapsulate the enduring harm inflicted by systems of male privilege.
On the release of the previously unheard “Fair Mabel Of Wallington Hall”, Frankie Archer said: “This is a definite ‘fuck the patriarchy’ song, and at the same time shows the desperation and helplessness of women living in a society that pushes them down and puts them through awful shit for the sake of keeping things the way they are. Maintaining the power imbalance. The story might seem outdated but the core of it – women being harmed and their opinions dismissed, upheld by society and our power structures – is happening now.”
Frankie Archer burst onto the British electrofolk scene with deeply rooted, cutting edge music that transcends stereotypes, using a combination of manipulated samples, synths, drum tracks and earthy Northumbrian fiddle and voice to capture her audience. Her goal is to shake up genres and traditions, challenge perspectives and call for a fairer future.
Winner of the 2023 Christian Raphael Prize, Frankie Archer released her debut EP ‘Never So Red’ (November, 2023).
In 2024, Frankie Archer played Glastonbury and performed a live televised version of new EP track “Lovely Joan” for BBC Two.
Live dates
1st November – Bristol, Gaia at Bristol Cathedral
2nd November – Cardiff, Norwegian Church Arts Centre
3rd November – Oxford, The Taproom
9th November – Lindisfarne, Pilgrimage to the Islands
15th November – Londonderry, New Gate Arts & Cultural Centre
16th November – Dublin, Tradition Now Festival
Author: Madison Quinn
